Chilling and Heat Requirements of Temperate Stone Fruit Trees (Prunus sp.)

Abstract

Stone fruit trees of genus Prunus, like other temperate woody species, need to accumulate a cultivar-specific amount of chilling during endodormancy, and of heat during ecodormancy to flower properly in spring. Knowing the requirements of a cultivar can be critical in determining if it can be adapted to a particular area. Growers can use this information to anticipate the future performance of their orchards and the adaptation of new cultivars to their region. In this work, the available information on chilling-and heat-requirements of almond, apricot, plum, peach, and sweet cherry cultivars is reviewed. We pay special attention to the method used for the determination of breaking dormancy, the method used to quantify chilling and heat temperatures, and the place where experiments were conducted. The results reveal different gaps in the information available, both in the lack of information of cultivars with unknown requirements and in the methodologies used. The main emerging challenges are the standardization of the conditions of each methodology and the search for biological markers for dormancy. These will help to deal with the growing number of new cultivars and the reduction of winter cold in many areas due to global warming.Agronomy 2020, 10, 409 2 of 32 (2.4 million t in 0.4 million ha), almond (2.2 million t in 1.9 million ha) and sour cherry (1.2 million t in 0.2 million ha) [2].Stone fruit trees, like other temperate woody species, need to accumulate a cultivar-specific amount of chilling during winter to overcome dormancy and then experience warm temperatures to finally flower in spring [3][4][5]. These conditions the adaptation of species and cultivars to each region [6] and it is the main drawback for their extension to warmer latitudes [7]. Knowing the temperature requirements of a cultivar can be useful for growers to anticipate the future performance of their orchards and to design new orchards taking into account the predicted global warming [7][8][9]. In this work, the available information on chilling-and heat-requirements of cultivars of the most cultivated stone fruit crops (almond, apricot, peach, plum and cherry) is reviewed, paying special attention to the approach used for the determination of breaking dormancy, the method used to quantify chilling and heat temperatures, and the place where the experiments were conducted. There is extensive information available about chilling and heat requirements that has purposefully been omitted from this review. We have only included those studies that a) obtained results by using an experimental methodology (i.e., transferring shoots into a growth chamber sequentially during winter) or computational/statistical approaches that relate flowering dates to temperature data over a sufficiently long time series, and b) quantified chilling and heat temperatures using the common models (Chilling Hours model, Utah model or Dynamic model for chilling requirements, Growing Degree Hours for heat requirements). Dormancy: Definition and DescriptionStone fruit tr...

Structure and Expression of Bud Dormancy-Associated MADS-Box Genes (DAM) in European Plum

“…In particular, chilling requirement of European plum cv. ‘Reine Claude Verte’ calculated in this study (979–1,086 CH) is in close agreement with previous estimations (976–1,275 CH; Tabuenca, 1967 ), and similar to those reported in other European plum cultivars ( Fadón et al, 2020 ).…”

“…In particular, chilling requirement of European plum cv. 'Reine Claude Verte' calculated in this study (979-1,086 CH) is in close agreement with previous estimations (976-1,275 CH; Tabuenca, 1967), and similar to those reported in other European plum cultivars (Fadoń et al, 2020). Bud dormancy is regulated by DAM transcription factor genes, mainly in Prunus species (Bielenberg et al, 2008;Sasaki et al, 2011;Balogh et al, 2019).…”

“…Temperatures were recorded hourly at a meteorological station located in the experimental orchard over the two seasons. Chilling was quantified according to the three most commonly used temperature models to quantify chilling in fruit trees ( Fadón et al, 2020 ). The Chilling Hours model defined “chilling hour” (CH) as 1 h at or below 7.2°C ( Weinberger, 1950 ).…”

Expression Analysis of Endodormancy and Flowering-related Genes in Greenhouse-cultivated Flowering Disorder Trees of Japanese pear (<i>Pyrus pyrifolia</i> Nakai) ‘Kosui’

“…To investigate dormancy depth, a temporal flowering test of cut branches was conducted as previously described by Fadón et al (2020) and Liu et al (2012), with slight modifications. In the present study, the bud break rate of lateral flower buds was observed and used as a dormancy depth indicator.…”

Temperatura e tempo de frio para a superação da dormência de gemas de videiras ‘Chardonnay’, ‘Merlot’ e ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’

“…Para Herter et al (2001), com o aumento da duração de frio, as gemas apresentam um tempo médio para brotação mais restrito (uniforme), o que está de acordo com os resultados alcançados neste estudo. Os resultados obtidos de maior uniformidade ou menor tempo médio para a brotação com o aumento do acúmulo de frio também foram obtidos por outros autores (BEAUVIEUX;WENDEN;DIRLEWANGER, 2018;ANZANELLO, 2019;FADÓN et al, 2020), trabalhando com diferentes espécies frutíferas temperadas.…”